Hydrothermal vent fields at East Scotia Ridge, Antarctica. hydrothermal vent metagenome

The aim of the ChEsSO consortium of UK marine scientists is to investigate the chemosynthetic environments and associated ecosystems south of the Polar Front. Sites in the East Scotia Sea (East Scotia Ridge, South Sandwich Arc and forearc) will be compared with chemosynthetically-driven communities in the Bransfield Strait, and south and north of King George Island, Antarctica. The primary objective of this work is to evaluate whether these sites, collectively, represent a Southern Ocean “gateway” to enable gene-flow of chemosynthetic fauna from the Southern Pacific Ocean to the South Atlantic Ocean. To address this issue our consortium of PIs will collectively conduct a detailed investigation and analysis of four contrasting types of chemosynthetically-driven communities, together with their regional tectonic setting, and the specific hydrothermal vent and cold seep environments they inhabit. The communities chosen for our investigation comprise: those associated with high-temperature, bare-rock hydrothermal vents on the East Scotia Ridge, high-temperature, sediment-hosted hydrothermal activity (Bransfield Strait), mud volcanoes (South Sandwich forearc basin) and methane hydrates (north of King George Island).